• DELAY - Prioritize your child, not technology and current norms. Trying to walk a middle ground (i.e. giving your child a device and planning to limit use) is much harder and riskier than simply delaying.

• COLLECTIVE ACTION - Communicate with other families and invite them to join you in delaying, choosing smartphone alternatives, and advocating for opt-out options regarding device use at school.

• Consider smartphone alternatives as the default option.

• Prioritize independent, free play over supervised play and screen time.

• Make sure any screens are in ‘public’ places at your house.

• Prohibit screens in bedrooms (and at the dinner table, during short car rides, or anywhere else you can cut them out).

• Have a central charging station in the main area of your home so there is somewhere to “park” a phone that isn’t a bedroom.

• Enforce a device bedtime - at least one hour BEFORE bed.

• Schedule times when the internet can or cannot be accessed.

• Make device as simple as possible.

• Utilize parental controls when a device can’t be avoided, but also understand the limitations of these controls.

• Ask your child’s pediatrician for support and information.

• Be a model for your child as much as possible. As the saying goes, kids don’t necessarily do what you say, but they do what you do.

At School

• Support Phone Free Schools bell-to-bell phone-free guidance. The benefits are worth the inconvenience: restored focus, less drama, more real life socializing, less bullying, less stress, less cheating, more reading, happier teachers, and happier students.

• Question Ed Tech use in the classroom - Is it transformational (Ed Tech Triangle)? Remember that independently-funded research does NOT show improved learning, and national academic achievement has declined as classroom device use rises.

• Communicate your family’s choices and preferences. Ask that your child opt-out of device use at school and cite the known health harms of device use – especially for elementary schoolers. Act in coordination with other families from the class.

• Create a partnership: treat schools and teachers as your partners. What do teachers need to minimize technology use in their classrooms and how can you support them?

• Use the Unplug Ed Tech Toolkit - from The Screentime Consultant